AIDS remains one of the world’s most serious health challenges with globally 34.0 million people living with HIV at the end of 2011, according to the 2012 report on the global AIDS epidemic issued by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The same report indicates that sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region with nearly 1 in every 20 adults (4.9%) living with HIV and accounting for 69% of the people living with HIV worldwide. After sub-Saharan Africa, the regions most heavily affected are the Caribbean and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where 1.0% of adults were living with HIV in 2011.

The good news is that the number of people infected in 2011 (2.5 million) was 20% lower than in 2001. In addition, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes has continued to decline, with 1.7 million people who died from AIDS-related causes worldwide in 2011 as compared with 2.3 million deaths in 2005 (a 24% decline). In 2011, 330,000 children were newly infected against 560,000 children in 2003 (a 43% decline).

More than 90% of the children who acquired HIV infection in 2011 live in sub- Saharan Africa, where the number of children newly infected fell by 24% from 2009 to 2011. The estimated HIV prevalence for adults aged between 15 and 49 in the Central African Republic (CAR) was 8.10% (170,000 people) in 2009 and fell to 4.60% (130,000) in 2011.

In the face of these data, P.A.S. HOPFAN is committed to contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Central African Republic and the rest of the world. At the spiritual level, the organization is providing personalized support to those infected or affected, based on God’s Word. At the material level, the organization works towards improving the living conditions of AIDS patients and their relatives by funding income generating activities and responding to the immediate needs of the most destitute.

As an example, a HIV-positive woman in her fifties and mother of six children has benefited from the organization’s help in her small businesses: She started by selling vegetables (coco, one of the most consumed vegetables in the Central African Republic) and, after planning and patience, she went on to sell meat and to launch a small restaurant.

P.A.S. HOPFANalso cares for some HIV patients, including widows and orphans, as far as its means allow. Among these orphans, about fifteen are attending school regularly with the financial support of the organization, which also pays for their medicines.

The organization provides occasional support to widows, such as covering their rental and prescription costs and donating clothes to them. In addition, the organization covers the education costs of 22 orphans in utter destitution, as well as their health care costs.

There have been cases when some HIV patients living in extreme poverty decided to stop taking ARV pills when they no longer had enough money to satisfy their hunger. In these cases, P.A.S. HOPFAN gave them money to cover their basic needs such as bread or oil for their hurricane-lamps that are very useful in a country where few people have access to electricity.

Additional resources will enable the organization to support a greater number in CAR and the rest of the world.

P.A.S. HOPFAN works towards improving the health conditions of those who do not have the means to do so, through personalized financial assistance or projects that have global impact on the health conditions of a greater number of people.

To date, the organization focuses most of its efforts in this area on widows and orphans and the most impoverished populations who live in utter destitution. For instance, P.A.S. HOPFAN has helped pregnant women who wanted to abort because they did not have the necessary resources to go through their pregnancies safely and raise their babies. The organization paid for their medical examination costs and babies’ clothes.

In the future, and according to God’s plans, P.A.S. HOPFAN will launch projects to improve the living conditions of the most destitute populations, including to contribute to increasing access to drinking water and to decent hygiene and housing.

P.A.S. HOPFAN provides financial and technical assistance to those in need who have been called by the Lord for entrepreneurship and who request voluntarily for such assistance.

As an example, a HIV-positive woman in her fifties and mother of six children benefited from the organization’s help in her small businesses: She started by selling vegetables (coco, one of the most consumed vegetables in the Central African Republic) and, after planning and patience, she went on to sell meat and to launch a small restaurant.

Combating spiritual, intellectual and material poverty remains one of the key areas of intervention of P.A.S. HOPFAN, to contribute to meeting its objectives.

The organization focuses on evangelization, teachings, preachings and other means to spread the Word of God with a view to combating men, women and children’s spiritual poverty. Christ, in John 8:32, told us: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This is the basis of P.A.S. HOPFAN‘s actions in this area of spiritual knowledge.

By focusing on education and information, the organization can also contribute to combating all forms of intellectual poverty that prevents mankind’s progress.

Finally, the organization supports the implementation of income generating activities to fight against material poverty, which affects a great number of people.

Providing support to widows and orphans is one of the key projects being carried out by P.A.S. HOPFAN in order to meet its objectives.

The organization has registered over 100 orphans in need of assistance, who live in some of the most disadvantaged districts in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. Some of them are HIV positive or born of parents who died from HIV/AIDS.

P.A.S. HOPFAN provides occasional support to widows, such as covering their rental and prescription costs and donating clothes to them. In addition, the organization covers the education costs of 22 orphans in utter destitution, as well as their health care costs.

The organization is planning to extend its support to other needy widows and orphans.

From July, 18 to 31, Pastor Léonard Gonitoua led a seminar on the theme of Hell at the Church of the Spiritual Awakening Mission of Boy-Rabe, in Bangui, Central African Republic. He addressed key questions such as: What is Hell? Does Hell exist? How to avoid going to Hell? Based on the Word of God, the Pastor provided answers to these questions.

Throughout two weeks, the Lord made several miracles (48 recorded by the organization), including: paralytics got up and walked; 13 blind people saw; people physically deformed were restored by the Lord; and many others were delivered from demons and demonic spirits that had bound them.

During this seminar, a Pastor testified about God’s powerful miracle in his life: While he was dead, the Lord rose him from the dead.

Through its seminars, P.A.S. HOPFAN presents biblical topics and show how they apply to our daily lives to make sure that participants understand their meaning. Generally, these events last several days so that the speakers examine the topics from all angles. These topics include: Forgiveness, Hell, Eternal Life, and Sanctification, among others. Sessions dedicated to participants’ questions are also secured to give answers provided by the Holy Spirit.

P.A.S. HOPFAN has recorded an average of 250 participants per seminars and about 50 people who gave their lives to Christ in each seminar.

Below are the most recent seminars that were convened by the organization:

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.

Spreading the Word of God, i.e. the Bible, is one of the most important programs of P.A.S. HOPFAN. Evangelization is one of the five Ministries that Jesus gave in the Book of Ephesians 4:11-13.

It is a point of honor for P.A.S. HOPFAN to follow this Ministry by organizing regular campaigns of evangelization or participating in such events when they are launched by other organizations with the same objectives as ours. P.A.S. HOPFAN favors personal, house-to-house evangelization, or in the open air.

To date, P.A.S. HOPFAN has organized more than 25 campaigns in Bangui and other cities in the Central African Republic (CAR), including 5 in Berberati, 3 in Carnot and 1 in Mobaye. In addition, 3 campaigns were organized with pygmies in Bambellou, in the Republic of Congo. In total, the organization reached out to about 500 people per campaign and an estimated 100 people per campaign gave their lives to Christ.

Most recently, P.A.S. HOPFAN shared the Gospel in Bangui, CAR, in the schools of Kaïmba, Ndress, and Gobongo.